Pugs are my happy place. They snort, they snuff, they wear cute little costumes while cavorting in meadows and generally being adorable.

And yet, there is this photo. It should be pure win-sauce. I mean, it’s a pug, dressed as a unicorn. In a pumpkin patch. Sounds like win to me! And yet…. it kinda confuses me. What is this? I don’t even….

So weird pug photo, I salute you. You are the first result in google images when I search “Pug in Costume”, which means I see you on an almost daily basis. No lie.

1. Pigs don’t have sweat glands, so they use mud to cool off- and the dried mud helps protect them from the sun (totally natural sunscreen). This is much smarter than our method of using chemicals, though somewhat less attractive. They are one of the few mammals, like humans, without enough fur or hair to prevent sunburn.

2. Pigs have more taste buds than us – around 15,000. That’s more than any other mammal.

3. Pigs are actually really clean, intelligent animals, and are probably only considered dirty because they scavenge food and roll in the mud. Pigs have emotions- they can be happy, sad, bored… just like us. They also recognize other pigs, have complex social hierarchies, and can problem solve. They are highly trainable, just like dogs.

4. Pigs are at least as intelligent as dogs, and possibly more so. They are very like humans in their physiology- especially their eyes and heart. Think about that next time you’re eating pork.

5. Pigs are often thought of as greedy, however, unlike dogs and people, they tend to only eat until full. The reason they are thought of as gluttons is because on average, they eat about 5 pounds of food a day. Considering that they clock in around 100 – 750 lbs, that’s not an unreasonable amount of grub. Just think about how much food we eat in a day.

6. Pigs have four toes on each foot- but only use the middle two for walking…. which is why they kinda look like they are tip-toeing around.